I had a lot of fun putting this timeline together! I love math and it was a lot of fun to explore the development and use of manipulatives.
References
Greer, A., & Mott, V. W. (2010). Learner-centered teaching and the use of technology. Dynamic Advancements in Teaching and Learning Based Technologies: New Concepts: New Concepts, 248-263.
Kim, R., & Albert, L. R. (2014). The history of base-ten-blocks: Why and who made base-ten-blocks?. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 5(9), 356-365.
Leinhardt, G. (1992). What research on learning tells us about teaching. Educational Leadership, 49(7), 20-25.
Moore, M. G. (1989). Editorial: Three types of interaction. The American Journal of Distance Education, 3(2), 1-6. Retrieved from http://aris.teluq.uquebec.ca/portals/598/t3_moore1989.pdf
Oliveira, C. (2009, August). The Moon in the Perception and Measurement of Social and Ritual Time. Comments on the Pre-historic Record. In Cosmology Across Cultures (Vol. 409, p. 364).
Stigler, J. W. (1984). “Mental abacus”: The effect of abacus training on Chinese children’s mental calculation. Cognitive Psychology, 16(2), 145-176.
Suh, J. M., & Moyer, P. S. (2008). Scaffolding special needs students’ learning of fraction equivalence using virtual manipulatives. Proceedings of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, 4, 297-304.
Hi Lorri,
Very interesting timeline, my kids have used the coloured blocks at their school, I had no idea that they were actually used for math…I just thought they were playing with blocks.
Hi Steve!
There are so many different manipulatives for math (I have only put up a few and only focused on computational one-to-one manipulatives – i.e I have not explored geometry manipulatives for example although virtual manipulatives cover many topics). How much the manipulatives are helping the children with math depends a great deal on how they are used in the classroom (Clements & McMillen, 1996) as linking the understanding of the concept with the manipulative does not occur automatically. Looking forward to seeing your timeline too!
Ref: Clements, D. H., & McMillen, S. (1996). Rethinking” concrete” manipulatives. Teaching children mathematics, 2(5), 270-279.
Great images Lorri! To think that the concept of counting came from thousands of years ago, with evidence from the early markings on rocks, to what resembles an abacus as what looks like a necklace. I remember playing with an abacus as a kids, it was on of those that had the different coloured plastic beads on each line. My favourite thing was making different patterns with the colours.